This invention relates to an apparatus for preparing simulated meat products; especially those such as bacon, having distinct lean and fatty appearing regions.
In recent years, considerable research has focused upon developing new-technology for producing meat-like, protein-containing foods from various vegetable and animal protein sources. Economics provides a major incentive. It would clearly be advantageous to substitute the more efficient process of growing vegetable proteins for the rather inefficient process in which animals convert proteinaceous vegetable materials into meat. This is especially true where the ever-increasing human population is feared to be outdistancing our ability to provide grazing land for meat-producing animals. Moreover, recent efforts have also been directed to avoiding certain natural products. For example, evidence suggests the possibility that saturated fat and cholesterol should be avoided by some people for health reasons. Also, many people refuse to eat meat or meat by-products for religious reasons.
In U.S. application Ser. No. 236,982, (filed Mar. 22, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,677) assigned to the present assignee, there is described a bacon-like product and a method for preparing it. That product and method overcome many of the major shortcomings of prior art efforts. Following the disclosure of that application it is now possible to produce synthetic products that truly have texture, appearance, and flavor which are similar or equivalent to the natural products. The product disclosed in that application, in fact, effectively simulates the great external and textural differences which exist between the fatty and lean portions of bacon. And, this is accomplished without the need for spun protein fibers, largely relied upon by prior art workers to obtain the desired, meat-like texture.
While the product described in said Ser. No. 236,982 is extremely good, it can be prepared in only limited amounts by the labor intensive method described therein. And, to produce it on a commercial scale by such a method would generate costs which would offset much of the economy sought to be achieved by the meat replacement. Accordingly, to best achieve the objects of that invention, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus which could produce such a simulated meat product in large quantities with a minimum of manual labor.